Best eyes upset win over Leinster
Hooker Rory Best insists Ulster have no interest in playing the ‘brave losers’ role in Saturday’s Heineken Cup final against Leinster.
BBC Sport – Rugby Union
Ospreys into the RaboDirect Pro12 final with big win over Munster
The Ospreys produced a clinical five-try demolition of Munster in the first RaboDirect Pro12 semi-final at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night. The 45-10 victory was one of their best of the season, setting them up nicely for a final in a fortnight’s time.
Dan Biggar scored a try and kicked four penalties and four conversion for a personal haul of 25 points for the Ospreys, surpassing 300 points for the season, and over 1000 for the region.
Things hadn’t gone entirely the home side’s way initially, as Munster scored first through Ian Keatley after a fantastic break by Keith Earls. It was all Ospreys after that, with tries scored by Biggar, Kahn Fotuali’i, Hanno Dirksen, Andrew Bishop and Rhys Webb.
Shane Williams came close to another farewell try, but unfortunately stepped on the touchline.
The home side played some dazzling rugby at times, counter-attacking from deep and splitting the Munster defence on regular occasion. Their defensive effort on the other hand was watertight, thanks in large part to the hard work from the forwards.
It was a sad farewell for Munster players Mick O’Driscoll, Tomas O’Leary, and Lifeimi Mafi, as well as coach Tony McGahan, but with Ospreys in the mood to play, they lacked firepower.
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Davies warns Cuthbert over France
Pundit Jonathan Davies fears Wales wing Alex Cuthbert’s burgeoning career could be damaged by moving to a French club.
BBC Sport – Rugby Union
Toulon through to Challenge Cup final after nail-biting win over Stade Francais
Jonny Wilkinson kicked a last minute drop goal to secure an Amlin Challenge Cup final spot for Toulon as they beat Stade Francais 32-29 in an enjoyable semi final on Friday night. They will face Biarritz in the final after they beat Brive 19-0 in the other semi.
Toulon got off to an incredible start as Steffon Armitage scored down the left wing, but Stade Francais came back into the match through their young number ten Jules Plisson.
The Parisian side then led the game for most of the half, and scored a try in the second period through former Wallaby Morgan Turinui, who had George Smith as his centre partner on the night.
Wilkinson steered Toulon home though, picking up a personal tally of 27 points and kicking the decisive drop goal with time almost up and the scores tied at 29-29. The former England hero missed a few kicks on the night, attributing that to the conditions.
“It was very tricky out there with the wind. It was disappointing as well because had I put a couple of the other kicks over then maybe we might found ourselves with a lead,” he said.
“As it was they just kept getting back into the game, playing brilliantly and forced us to go right to the end. It could have gone either way. I missed a couple off the tee and I thought with the drop goal at the end that if I miss this I might not go back into the changing room afterwards.
“I thought the guys deserved better than this after working so hard to get the penalties – I should have put a few more over. All you can do is keep fighting towards the end and keep trying to do the right thing. I was trying to think clearly about the process, of where I was on the field.
“I was thinking about what I was trying to go and getting the right contact and visualising in my mind what needed to be done to try to make it more said and done deal. You try to line the physical thing with what you put in your head before hand and thankfully that went well.”
Highlights and clips of all the European action, and Super Rugby, will be featured throughout the week. Please get in touch if you’d like to contribute or request specific incidents.
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Henson sorry over flight incident
Gavin Henson apologises over alchohol-fuelled behaviour on a post-match Cardiff flight from Glasgow.
BBC Sport – Rugby Union
Italy avoid the Wooden Spoon with win over Scotland
The battle for fifth place in this year’s Six Nations was a fairly dire affair, but Italy triumphed as they avoided the Wooden Spoon and beat Scotland 13-6 in the Olympic Stadium on Saturday. Below is the solitary try from the game.
Despite having a group of new players that have shown a lot of promise and flair in this year’s tournament, Andy Robinson’s Scotland lost five from five, relagating them to bottom of the table after another less than convincing performance.
A new chapter in Scottish rugby needs to begin, and whether Robinson will be a part of it or not remains to be seen. Speculation is now rife that the dejected coach, who has led Scotland to seven straight defeats, will face the axe. It’s now 12 of the last 15 matches under Robinson in the Six Nations, which makes for poor reading.
“Everything is pretty emotional at the moment. I need to go away and think through what is right with a plan, and thatâs what Iâll be doing,” he said after the game.
Italy’s Sergio Parisse on the other hand was pleased with the win, saying that they did it for new coach Jacques Brunel, who took over from Nick Mallett.
“That feels good. We’ve had enough good matches in this tournament, we only just lost against England here at the Olympico for example. Today we had possession of the ball, I think we deserved the win. We were a little bit afraid at half-time because they came into our half for 30 seconds and scored three points.
“But we won. It’s good for Jacques, who’s just arrived,” Parisse added.
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Wales still on course for Grand Slam following victory over Italy
Wales are still on track for a Six Nations title following a comfortable 24-3 win over determined Italy at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. If they beat France next weekend, they will pick up their third Grand Slam in eight years.
It was a slow first half as Italy frustrated the hosts, who went into the break at just six points up at 9-3, following penalties exchanged by Leigh Halfpenny and Mirco Bergamasco.
Two tries followed in the second period, one by Jamie Roberts as he split the defence to run 50 meters untouched, and the other a later effort from winger, and Man of the Match, Alex Cuthbert.
Halfpenny was yellow carded for taking out Sergio Parisse in the air, although it looked as though it may have been a harsh call. Welsh coach Warren Gatland felt that his side didn’t get the rub of the green throughout, criticising referee George Clancy’s handling of the breakdown.
“I thought there was a lot of intent by us but it was a bit frustrating because the flow of the game was not there. We were not allowed to get quick ball and the breakdown was a bit of a mess. We will take the win but if a team has that much possession and territory and loses the penalty count 13-12 you have got to be frustrated about that.
“We werenât allowed to get the momentum going. Itâs probably just about trying to get the message through to referees, letâs be positive to the team that is trying to play positively and letâs reward them for that. I donât think everything has to be 100 per cent to the letter of the law because there is so much interpretation.
“Thatâs why I am personally pretty frustrated because it was difficult for us,” Gatland added.
Italy coach Jaques Brunel, who took over from Nick Mallett, was positive despite the loss. He was pleased with his team’s defensive effort against a ‘very powerful Welsh side’.
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Toulouse come from behind twice to snatch win over Castres
Toulouse and Castres were involved in one of the Top 14 games of the weekend at the Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday, with the home side coming away 34-27 winners after a late comeback. Seven tries were scored in total.
Fighting back from a 14 point deficit, Toulouse sealed the win with a late try by Gillian Galan following a well placed crosskick by former All Black Luke McAlister.
Earlier on Castres had shot to a 14-0 lead before Toulouse fought back to take the lead early in the second half. The see-saw battle continued with Castres reclaiming the lead through a Yannick Caballero try off the back of the scrum.
Two penalties from Pierre Bernard looked to have buried the defending champions, who were missing a host of players due to Six Nations duty. Florian Fritz brought them back into contention though, before Galan had the final say with only a few minutes left in the contest.
Toulouse maintain their place at the top of the table, leading Clermont by four points.
Other than a host of French stars, keep an eye out for flying Fijian Timoci Matanavou, Kiwi’s Chris Masoe and Luke McAlister, Wallaby Luke Burgess, Samoan Cencus Johnston, Argentinian Patricio Albacete, and South African’s Gurthro Steenkamp, Shaun Sowerby, and Daan Human.
Elsewhere in the Top 14:
Racing Métro 22-13 Bordeaux-Bègles | Agen 20-29 Clermont | Biarritz 26-11 Brive | Montpellier 37-26 Bayonne | Stade Français 40-19 Lyon | Perpignan 22-22 Toulon
Below are extended highlights (11:46) of this classic Top 14 match. Enjoy.
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Reds grind out win over Rebels
Melbourne Rebels produce their best defensive performance but still can’t topple Queensland Reds in a torrid Super Rugby dogfight.
FOXSPORTS.com.au | Rugby Union
Irish optimism over Best fitness
Rory Best looks likely to be passed fit to captain Ireland in Saturday’s Six Nations against Scotland.
BBC Sport – Rugby Union
‘Carter in points victory over JOC’
We review an exciting round two of Super Rugby action, where the Waratahs downed the Rebels and the Reds defeated the Force.
FOXSPORTS.com.au | Rugby Union
Wales claim the Triple Crown with nail biting win over England
Wales can now aim for the Grand Slam after picking up the Triple Crown when beating England 19-12 in an intense Six Nations game at Twickenham yesterday. The match went down to the final play, when David Strettle was held up over the line.Â
Leigh Halfpenny made a courageous tackle on Strettle as England looked to get into a position from which they would kick to draw the game. Halfpenny put his body on the line, seemingly knocking himself out in the process, before Jon Davies and George North held up the Saracens winger.
Strettle has since insisted that he felt the ball touch the ground, despite television match official Iain Ramage having numerous looks at the incident and finding the footage inconclusive.
“I felt the ball touch the floor,” said Strettle. “If it is inconclusive you have to go with the attacking team. When they showed it on the big screen it looked like it went down as well,” he added, before saying that he felt the touch judge was in the best position to adjudicate on the decision.
“The strange thing for me was that I was hoping the touch judge might have seen it because our physio was standing right next to him and he says it was grounded. I can’t understand why we have not gone back for that penalty,” he added, referring to the advantage played by ref Steve Walsh.
A few minutes earlier Welsh replacement center Scott Williams ripped the ball from England lock Courtney Lawes and sped away for what turned out to be the decisive try.
“We knew it would be the toughest game, and it was tough. We are over the moon to get the Triple Crown here,” said captain Sam Warburton, who led from the front as always.
Wales face Italy next, then a meeting with France which could be their Grand Slam decider.
In your opinion, was the decision at the end correct?
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France start Six Nations campaign with solid win over spirited Italy
France opened their 2012 Six Nations campaign with a convincing 30-12 win over Italy at the Stade de France on Saturday. One of the highlights of the game was a fantastic try scored by winger Julien Malzieu, while debutant Wesley Fofana also crossed.
New France head coach Philippe Saint-André saw his side score four tries past their continental cousins, although the Italians performed valiantly in the tight â dominating possession and territory for most of the match.
The French backs proved too difficult for the Azzurri to contain, with tries scored by centres Fofana and Aurélien Rougerie, as well as wingers Malzieu and Vincent Clerc. Scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili added 10 points from the boot.
Whereas Les Bleus capitalised on all of their opportunities, the Italians were unable to finish off a series of promising attacks and will have to improve before next weekâs fixture against Scotland.
Despite his sideâs convincing performance, Saint-André said that there was room for improvement:
“It’s good to win but there is a lot of room for improvement; the glass is half full and half-empty,” the former France winger said.
“We should gain more possession, we lacked aggression, especially at the beginning. As a coach, you seek perfection but today you saw great defence, good discipline and we even scored four tries.
“Up front we could have performed better. We lacked aggressiveness at the start of match in clearing out and as for taking the game to them, we did some things of quality but we were often guilty of failing to finish them off well.
“But It’s a first victory, so you have to have a smile,” he said.
What, or who, impressed you most in this match? Leave a comment below to let us know.
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Youngs fearful over England place
Scrum-half Ben Youngs concedes his starting spot could be under threat as England prepare for their Six Nations match against Wales.
BBC Sport – Rugby Union
Wales looking strong after solid win over Scotland
Scotland picked up two yellow cards as they lost 27-13 to Wales in their Six Nations meeting on Sunday. It was another game of missed chances for the Scots, and the Welsh are now in a strong position as they head into their next game, against England.
In two week’s time Wales will head to Twickenham to take on the old enemy in a game that may well set them on the path for the Grand Slam. The’ve had a good run of form and have scored six tries in their two games so far, building up the hype at home.
“Iâm sure the nation is going to get revved up again and weâll be the only sane ones left here. Itâs hard to escape sometimes when youâre walking around Tesco but youâve just got to keep your feet on the ground,” prop Adam Jones told Wales Online.
“Weâve got something to play for now and going to Twickenham to try and win a Triple Crown is an exciting prospect. Obviously they can still win one as well so itâs going to be an exciting game.”
As for Scotland, at 27-6 down they had a try disallowed from the impressive young Stuart Hogg after it was ruled to have been knocked on. A few minutes later they did score, and built some nice phases in the last twenty minutes of the game.
Recently retired Dan Parks says that there is plenty to build on, particularly at flyhalf.
“Jacko (Ruaridh Jackson) is an excellent open-field runner and he has great skills and his kicking game has come on leaps and bounds. Greig (Laidlaw) brings something slightly different. Judging on his showing against Wales, he can be very crafty. He can score points which is vital.
“And Duncan (Weir) is similar to myself. He has a great kicking game and also accumulates points. The future for Scotland 10s is very bright and the future for Scotland is bright,” he said.
You can view highlights of the game below
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Extended highlights from the Biarritz rout over Ospreys
Extended highlights from Biarritz’s 36-5 win over Ospreys in the Heineken Cup game at the Parc des Sports Aguilera this past weekend, including a hat-trick from US Eagles flyer Zee Ngwenya.
Highlights from the much requested Munster vs Northampton Saints game will feature tomorrow.
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Toulouse stay top after bonus point win over Connacht
Toulouse played some great rugby as they eased passed Connacht to stay top of Pool Six following their Heineken Cup game at the Stade Ernest Wallon stadium on Saturday. The 24-3 bonus point win leaves them sitting pretty after another impressive display.
Connacht started well with three points from flyhalf Niall O’Connor but things soon turned the way of the hosts as flying Timoci Matanavou got on the end of a deft kick ahead from Maxime Medard.
Matanavou was in the mood for running, as can be seen in the highlights, but Medard soon crossed himself as he got on the end of a well placed crosskick from Kiwi number ten Luke McAlister.
They went into the break with the scores at 10-3 but Toulouse piled on the pressure in the second half and scored when powerful number eight Louis Picamoles took a quick tap to score.
Connacht reigned the impressive French outfit in to an extent, but couldn’t prevent them from scoring the bonus point try when Medard once again turned provider and Matanavou flew down the left wing to score their fourth.
In the final round of matches Toulouse, who sit comfortably on top with 18 points, will face Gloucester at Kingsholm. Connacht will host Harlequins at home on Friday and despite their loss to the French giants, will no doubt feel buoyed by their spirited effort.
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Saracens close to qualification following win over Biarritz
Saracens are on the verge of qualification for the next round of the Heineken Cup after they beat Biarritz 20-16 at Vicarage Road on Sunday. Owen Farrell kicked over five from five penalties as they battled past the French outfit.
A little under 7000 fans watched key performances from Farrell and Alex Goode as they contributed towards Saracens being in a position whereby they need just one point from their trip to Treviso this coming weekend.
Young number nine Ben Spencer had crossed for their only try of the match while Dimitri Yachvilli converted his own charge down try for the visitors, and kicked two penalties.
“We are pleased to have won the game – these kind of games are about getting the job done,” said Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall.
“There were times in the first half and the start of the second where we were very dominant and at 14-6 we had an opportunity to pull away and break them. We couldn’t do that but the last 20 minutes characterised everything we are about as a club with the the work ethic and discipline.”
The following highlights feature not only the tries, but some nice pieces of play around the park (including a bit hit). It’s in French, which is not the host broadcaster language but all we have available right now. If you’d like to contribute with highlights or short clip, please get in touch.
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Saracens edge to win over Biarritz
Saracens are on the verge of reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals after a nail-biting 20-16 victory over French side Biarritz.
BBC Sport | Rugby Union | UK Edition
Quins seal late win over Exeter
Rory Clegg scores a late winning penalty for Premiership leaders Harlequins as Exeter Chiefs fall just short of a shock victory.
BBC Sport | Rugby Union | UK Edition
Highlights of the Wallabies win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium
With all the focus on Shane Williams’ retirement and the nice exit he had scoring with his final touch of the ball, the result of the game between Wales and the Wallabies was overlooked slightly. For the 24-18 victors though, the tour was a success.Â
The Wallabies won two from two on their UK tour as they thumped a star-studded Barbarians side then comfortably beat Wales, who after their showing at the Rugby World Cup would have expected to put up a better fight. At 24-6 up with about 15 minutes left in the game, the contest was effectively over, even though Wales did produce a mini fightback.
Robbie Deans’ experiment of using young James O’Connor at number ten was a huge success. He had the guidance of Berrick Barnes on his inside, and together they showed a lot of stability, something that was at times missed during the RWC campaign.
In Quade Cooper’s absence due to injury Barnes was probably expected to be the obvious replacement, but he is happy to play at inside center, and most importantly, just to get out on the park. One forgets that earlier this year he retired from rugby due to repeated dizzy spells.
“I’ve enjoyed playing it, and at the end of the day I’ll take a Test start wherever I can get it, and especially after the year I’ve had,” Barnes upon landing in Sydney.
“I feel like I’m getting back to my best sort of footy in the last couple of games,” Barnes added.
He was integral in a turning point in the game as the Wallabies almost scored a try but for a early tackle and yellow card to Wales’ Leigh Halfpenny. His pickup of an inside pass from Lachie Turner was sensational.
At fulltime the Wallabies left happy, as did Williams and the 60 000 fans on hand at the Millennium Stadium to witness his final ever game for his country, and a typically well taken try to finish a great Test career. Below are highlights from the game if you missed it.
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Saracens edge to win over Ospreys
Ernst Joubert scores an opportunist try as Saracens beat the Ospreys 16-13 in Friday’s Heineken Cup Pool Five match at the Liberty Stadium.
BBC Sport | Rugby Union | UK Edition
Moody hits back over report
Ex-England captain Lewis Moody has given a philosphical response to a report in the Times that revealed player feelings in New Zealand.
Planet Rugby | Rugby Union News
Tindall to appeal over RFU fine
Mike Tindall intends to appeal against the £25,000 fine handed to him following a night out at the World Cup.
BBC Sport | Rugby Union | UK Edition
Tindall axed over boozy night
England drop Mike Tindall after an investigation into his controversial boozy night out during the World Cup.
FOXSPORTS.com.au | Rugby Union
Hemispheres clash over 2015 Cup
SANZAR officials reject a proposal to start the 2015 World Cup on September 5, saying they won’t shorten The Rugby Championship.
FOXSPORTS.com.au | Rugby Union
Rees unsure over Wales captaincy
Fit-again Wales hooker Matthew Rees has admitted that he does not know if he captain’s armband will be handed back to him when he returns to the international arena later this year
Rugby World Cup 2011 rugby news from Scrum.com
Moody admits regrets over bar visit
Lewis Moody has admitted he wished he had done more to stop the infamous trip to a New Zealand bar which so undermined England’s World Cup campaign.
ESPNSTAR.com
Deja vu all over again
It is very much a case of history repeating itself as the All Blacks and France collide in Auckland on Sunday evening for the right to lift the Webb Ellis Cup
Dan Carter rugby news from Scrum.com
Deans, Henry clash over Quade
The Wallabies rally around Quade Cooper as All Blacks coach Graham Henry takes a parting shot at the besieged playmaker.
FOXSPORTS.com.au | Rugby Union
